Debbie Logan is the real food revolutionist behind the Organic Emporium, she wants to put meaning back into what the sacred philosophy of ‘organic’ stands for.

It is difficult in the busyness of our everyday lives to make food choices that tick all the boxes for health, sustainability and environmental as well as animal kindness. Thankfully there are people who are fighting the good fight on our behalf and bringing those food choices ever closer to our refrigerators and pantries.

I’m talking about people like Debbie Logan, fearless real food revolutionary and super passionate entrepreneur of the Organic, Natural and Whole Food Emporium.

One of Debbie’s many pet projects is supporting the Gauteng-based Mooberry Farms in their quest to produce the first ‘non-GM in entirety’ eggs. She says it’s one of her greatest food victory highlights and it’s just one example of how far she’ll go in pursuit of real food.

For Debbie, it’s not enough that the chickens get to roam freely out in the open, but also what they eat that earns the eggs their ‘real food’ status. Sprouts, mealworms and sorghum are the type of ingredients that get Debbie gushing with excitement when she talks about the latest chicken feed experiments.

“You want farms making up their own feed and you want a full list of what is being fed to the chickens, and the farmer’s name, so that you can check it for yourself”, says Debbie.

If you don’t fancy going through all that trouble of investigating whether your chicken and eggs are truly free range as well as GM and growth hormone free, Debbie says she’ll do it for you, with pleasure. “I will get in my car and go there.”

Debbie has done it too. She went to check on a free-range chicken farm that claimed not to use any antibiotics or growth hormones. “I not only found a very slick barn operation with a token open back door, but when I asked for the feed certificate and actually read it, discovered that it absolutely did not say that the feed was antibiotic or growth-promoter free. I then called the food scientist who produced the certificate who confirmed that the feed did in fact contain growth promoters and had never not!”

Debbie has travelled South Africa far and wide to find and nurture relationships with real food farmers. She has sat in the middle of a field on Charlie Crowther’s farm in Hermanus where he invited her to listen to the “soothing sounds” of the pigs munching on the grasses. She has relaxed on Ruth’s deck at her New Harmony farm in the Magaliesberg, eating pan-fried scones with homemade jam, watching chickens catch moths and crickets.

“I get struck over and over again, every time I am in the company of a good farmer, of how their gift is about their inherent connection to the earth and the cycle of life,” says Debbie. By the same token, Debbie is our connection to these good people and their produce.

She’s also leading the food revolution far beyond her store by leading the launch of the Conscious and Ethical Retailer, Consumer and Producer Alliance (CERA). “Product labeling, most especially in the green, health and sustainable food space is, right now, I’m sad to say, the most mislabeled area of our food system. CERA will be the solution to this.”

It’s my turn to be struck, by how very lucky we are to have someone like Debbie.

To find out more about her real food revolution go to www.organicemporium.co.za.